Alright, so I've narrowed down my choice on finding a good online college. Currently I share a car with my wife. However, do to a less than respectable rap sheet I haven't been able to find a job for over a year so I've been attending small amounts of community college courses but even then it has been real difficult between my wife's schedule and mine. I've began searching for online degree programs but, as usual, would like to get some opinions from EH gurus before making any choices.

I'm looking for a degree focused in the security field. I love hands-on and tech also but I can see the market being much more demanding of security in the coming decades. Moreover, I'd like to have strong security knowledge in case the US police state gets any bigger. I love all things computer so I'm not really picky about the job necessarily. I wanted a well-rounded education (networks, servers, programming) but with a focus in security. I will also most likely be doing some independent teaching as well since I'll have so much time on my hands. As long as I don't have to interact too much with humans - j/k.

So I've been looking at the following colleges:

Western Governors: BSIS - Security I really like the look of this college but wanted to get an idea of my chances of getting in before I fork out the $60 application fee. My HS GPA was around 2.9 but I have a diploma and even some prior college. Couldn't find numbers on admissions so I was wondering if anyone had tried WGU. Also, would it be better for me to go for the general BSIS or for the BSIS - Security.

University of Advancing Technology: BS Advancing Computer Science I've always kind of had my eye on UAT because they have a wide range of opportunities in IT and a strong gaming wing (I have a vicious addiction to video games - I have no idea how my wife puts up with it). Their BSACS looks really cool but their tuition is like $10k per semester. We make roughly $40k annual so would I even qualify for financial aid?

ITT Tech: BS Information Systems Security Can't find any tuition info and I really don't want to have 20 brochures in the mail. I've heard lots of good things about ITT; I know they produce a lot of workforce. Just wanted to get outside opinions on the quality rather than the quantity.

Kaplan University: BSIT/IT Capella University: BSIT -- has cool specialist courses Walden University: BSIT -- spendy at around $5k / qaurter These are some of the overly advertized online schools. They look alright but some of the online student reviews for these schools are abysmal. Anybody had any experience with them? All of them are more expensive than WGU.

So that's what I have it narrowed down to. Sorry for the long post, I just really wanted to give a good overall picture of what I have so far so I don't waste anyone's time. Remember, I'm looking for Bachelor's in CS or IT (not sure what the difference is really) with a focus on security but still a well-rounded overall IT education. I will be doing some self education along with it.

As always I'd like to thank everybody in advance as I'm positive the outcome of this post will be refreshing, honest, and inspiring

I'll try to help out as much as I can with this by giving my personal experience with one of the colleges you listed off.

ITT Tech: BS Information Systems SecurityCan't find any tuition info and I really don't want to have 20 brochures in the mail. I've heard lots of good things about ITT; I know they produce a lot of workforce. Just wanted to get outside opinions on the quality rather than the quantity.

I'm a current student at the school, and I'll tell you that the current cost of each class is priced at $1,972.00. It's also worth noting that when I signed up in 2009, the cost of each class was $1,472.00. The positives if any that I could say regarding the school is that the Career Service folks really try to get your resume out to local companies to find you a job. This happens to be later on down the road though when your just about done in your program. I know currently the school requires you to take their Associate Program Computer Networking Systems before you enroll into the Bachelor Program of Information Systems Security like you mentioned - so you'll be starting there.

Financial aid is readily available for those who qualify. In my opinion, it's really needed here since it's a for-profit school and the prices of classes are extremely high. Just throwing out another positive here regarding this school is your allowed to 'Test-Out' of classes. A Test-out is basically taking the final of a class your wanting to challenge out of, prior to sitting in the class. If you receive a proficient grade of 70% or better you get what's called a Credit By Examination. If you can do this successfully, you won't have to take the class or pay for it.

The school has it's more negatives than positives which I won't publicly mention on the board. PM me if your interested in that info. Just pitching in my 2 cents, hope any of it has helped.

Regards,

-kris

Last edited by KrisTeason on Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

UAT: I requested info from them online, and didnt hear back for nearly a year, all it was was a email for a recruiting seminar in my state. They look really good for a ground school, not sure how they will work as an online school.

ITT has been off and on my radar. I'm interested, but the schools rep keeps me away. Ultimately, if I dont go back to WGU, I may go here because its a ground school that is local.

Capella has good reviews, but it seems to have really high difficulty standards/ courses.

@kris, id be interested in hearing your lessons learned.

Last edited by SephStorm on Sun Apr 17, 2011 6:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I really like the look of WGU. Besides being a non-profit, they offer damn good tuition ($2890/6 mo. term). I just talked to American Intercontinental University today and they seem pretty solid as well. They got gold accreditation and are featured in Wired. Anyone else ever heard of/had experience with AIU? I think I'm gonna steer clear of ITT just cause I've heard some poor things and my cousin went there and said it was pretty weak. Capella looks promising too.On another note, I was originally looking for a BS in Computer Science but all the colleges I've checked out have only offered a BS in IT. Are these two things the same thing? I want to focus on the technical side (CompSci) and not as much the business end (CIS). Would a BS in IT be the way to go? I think WGU offers a BSIT with specializations in networking or security.

BS in Comp Sci (just off the top of my head no research) seems more like getting down deep into technology at the engineering type level. Thats a degree you want to get from a B&M school like CalTech or MIT. Imagine spending hours pouring over books explaining how to build a silicon chip. A BS in IT on the other hand seems more like a degree for the guy working on the system, either performing maintenance or administration.

Well WGU offers BSIT - Security and it apparently covers everything for 10 different certifications and pays for the exams for those certs. They got stellar reviews also. Kaplan has good reviews too - INDECISION!!!

I don't know how relevant it is right now, but I'm looking at starting at WGU in January. It's comparatively inexpensive stacked next to most other online-only programs (apart from shorter-run stuff like the OffSec certs) and it looks like it's got a pretty broad curriculum, not just the usual private college nonsense where they rip you through A+, Net+, Sec+ and then a bunch of MS certs, so that's reassuring.

If no one else has said anything on here by then, I'll tell you guys all about my experience.